doctrine

The Sweetest Lesson

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“Spread out your petition before God, and then say, ‘Thy will, not mine, be done.’ The sweetest lesson I have learned in God’s school is to let the Lord choose for me” (Dwight L Moody).

I love the imagery of spreading out my petition before God. It comes from 2 Kings 19 where King Hezekiah receives a threatening letter from the Assyrians who are poised to invade the land. Instead of rushing into rash action, Hezekiah takes it before the Lord, literally spreading it out as a kind of offering of submission.

I also think of King Jehoshaphat who faced another massive army, but responded with the prayer, “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you” (2 Chronicles 20:12, ESV).

In short, they both chose to let God fight for them. They decided to let God choose for them.

In my lifetime, I have had several instances where I chose for myself and it did not go well. I was like the greedy man who took the wrong grail cup in the Indiana Jones movie only to hear the words “You have chosen . . . poorly” and basically shrivel up and die.

But every time I have been wise enough and patient enough to let God decide, I have never regretted the outcome. That’s assuming my patience lasted long enough for me actually to wait on the outcome, no matter how long it seemed to take.

Maybe it’s a good idea to literally take whatever it is that is troubling you and spread it before the Lord. It could be unpaid bills or a jury summons or some other document that gives you great anxiety. Or maybe you can spread out your hands in a posture of surrender.

Either way, you and I both need to let God choose. The old prayer still works: Thy will be done. One of my favorite fictional characters, Father Tim Cavanaugh, calls it the prayer that never fails because you truly can’t go wrong asking for God’s will over and above your own.

Thy will be done, no matter what. Thy will be done, even if it means my will is undone (with a nod to Elisabeth Elliott). Thy will be done. Period.

Of All My Posts, This Is One of Them

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Not every blog post will be a winner. Sometimes, there’s just nothing to write about. Or in my case, the ol’ noggin has shut down for the night. So you get a post like this.

I do think it’s important to fill at least part of your day with something that brings you joy. While it’s important to be aware of what’s going on in the world, it should become your whole day. Make time in your day for listening to music or going for a walk or simple sitting in silence and meditating on the goodness of God.

Also, you should periodically treat yourself to foods that you really like. And by periodically, I don’t mean periodically through the day, but every week or so. You don’t want to become diabetic (or pre-diabetic like me). As with most everything else, moderation is key.

It always helps to keep the big picture in mind. Sometimes, I get caught up in the minutae and forget that what I’m worrying over and obsessing about is finite and temporary. There’s no need to waste energy over something that you probably won’t remember a year from now.

It’s also helpful to keep a mindset of prayer throughout the day. That doesn’t mean you’re constantly in prayer, but as God prompts you through various events or people or memories, keep the conversation with God open.

And at the end of the day, it’s always nice to have a furry friend to come home to. In my case, it’s a very lovable tortoiseshell feline named Peanut, but you should have a dog or cat or hamster or something that will always be glad to see you when you walk through your front door.

Oh, and be sure to cultivate a grateful spirit. That goes a long way toward making your day better when you focus on the good and not the bad.

It Says That?

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“Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
    but the Lord delivers him out of them all” (Psalm 34:19, ESV).

How I wish the verse said “Many are the afflictions of the wicked, but the righteous will avoid them all.” Unfortunately, it does not.

There is a popular brand of Christianity that preaches a prosperity gospel. Basically, if you’re righteous, you will reap spiritual, physical, and financial blessings. You will never see hardship. Any kind of suffering is not of God and you can pray it away if you have enough faith.

But Jesus said that in this world you will have trouble. Not might. Not may. Will. As in the forecast for your life is that there’s a 100% chance of affliction and trouble in your future. That’s the part that can be a bit depressing if you focus just on that part.

But the second is the hopeful part. But God delivers the righteous out of them all. As my pastor used to say, God never gives us a way out but a way through. We may walk through some dark valleys, but our Shepherd is with us.

I’ve pointed it out before, but in Psalm 23, the first few verses talk about God as our Shepherd in the third person. He makes, He leads, He restores. But in the valley of the shadow of death, it changes. Suddenly, it’s You are with me. In that place and in that season, God becomes personal and the experience becomes intimate. Theoretical head knowledge becomes precious wisdom gained from life experience of God walking with us through the worst that hell can throw at us and delivering us from it all.

No matter what, God is with us. That, not the inevitable affliction, is the key. God will be with us and all will be well because He is making all things new.

11 Years Later

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I figured out a little while ago that it was 11 years ago today that The Church at Avenue South had their first ever Easter service at 2510 Franklin Road, months before the official September launch of the campus. I distinctly remember we had rows of white plastic folding chairs set in front of a screen. There were maybe 100 of us with a handful of kids.

This Sunday, we had an overflow set up in the basement with just as many chairs. Upstairs in the sanctuary, we had three services to accommodate over 900 worshippers with plenty of kids in attendance. Not to mention we celebrated our first ever Easter Sunday in our new facility that probably seemed like a pipe-dream 11 years ago.

It’s so easy to get caught up in the tyranny of the urgent and forget that sometimes we are living in the answered prayers of the past. So many of those things we pleaded with God to have are now the same things we routinely take for granted in our quest to get more from God.

That’s why gratitude is vital to the life of a believer and to a community of faith. It stops entitlement dead in its tracks and keeps us reminded of God’s continual faithfulness because we like those Israelites of old are forgetful and prone to wander.

I love that we have so many new members who never set foot in the 2510 Franklin Road location. Probably a small handful are left who remember that first Easter service in 2014. But God was there. And He still shows up every Sunday at 901 Acklen Avenue.

I can’t wait to see what the next 11 years holds in store. Or even the next 11 months. Whatever it is, I’m sure it will be exceedingly abundantly beyond anything we could ever ask or dream or imagine or hope for. That’s just God’s way.

The Last Week

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Today is Palm Sunday and marks the beginning of the last week of Jesus’ earthly ministry, the week leading up to Good Friday and Easter Sunday. I’ve been here before, but I feel like so many times I’ve rushed to get through it to what’s next.

This time, I want to slow down a bit and sit under the cross. I want to be still long enough to hear God speak a word over me about what this week means for me and for all those who call on the Messiah out of a genuine faith. I want to be moved to tears and fully take in the price that Jesus paid for me.

I finished an incredible devotional by one of my favorite writers, Charles Martin. It’s called It Is Finished and spends 40 days walking the path that led from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday, sparing no details and leaving no stone unturned. It was one of the best books I’ve read in a long time, and I hope to read it again some day.

I want Easter to mean more than the Easter Bunny or Cadbury chocolate eggs (though I am very much a fan of both). I don’t want to look at the date on the calendar and miss the point of the day — Jesus who knew no sin became sin for me that I might become the righteousness of God in Christ.

I don’t want to be the same person in seven days as the person who is now writing these words. I want to be more like Jesus, more aware of the sacrifice He made, and more willing to count the cost and take up my own cross. I want to be more of a disciple and less of an admirer. I want to be more of a follower and less of a fan. I want to be a truly biblical Christian and not a watered-down, American Christian.

I’m thankful that God is far more patient with me than I am with Him and takes far more time with me than I ever have with Him. At this point, I say, “Lord, do whatever it takes to make me Yours, Your disciple, Your own. Have Your way in me. Amen.”

The Joy of the Hunt

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I love a good afternoon spent thumbing through stack of vinyl. There’s just something about the joy of the unexpected, never knowing what you’ll find. Of course, I love finding those rare, hard to find, collectible records. But for me, finding LPs that take me back to my childhood are just as valuable.

I call my record player a turntable time machine, because music is the closest to being able actually to travel back in time to the year the album was created. So many dormant memories can reawaken upon the dropping of the record needle and the first notes of the first song on the first side.

If you didn’t grow up in the 70s, you may not be aware of a band called Candle that did a lot of Christian music for kids. The one I know best and love most is Music Machine, a sort of musical adventure through the fruits of the Holy Spirit. It’s good music for kids because it’s music that anyone can listen to, young or old.

Music that’s meant for only kids, just like books and television shows or anything else, usually aren’t good books. I think C. S. Lewis said that. I should be able to revisit a childhood favorite and still be engaged by it if it’s any good.

But for me, the best treasures are often the ones I find in the bargain bins or sometimes even in the free bins. So much of my collection is definitely in the $10 and under category. I think that’s because what determines value most isn’t always money. The price tag doesn’t automatically equate to worth or importance. And that goes for so many other things outside of music and records.

So the hunt will continue for me for a while. I hope you will share your own unique and interesting finds by posting in the comments. Happy listening!

The Unknown

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“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God” (Corrie Ten Boom).

When I’m tempted to fear the unknown, it’s only because I forget that God already knows. I forget that God, being outside of time and space, is already there in that moment waiting for me. He’s also with me in the present. And He was with me when I began to be fearful.

I don’t have to understand. I don’t have to know all the answers. I don’t have to get rid of every possible shred of fear and doubt. I only have to trust and obey. I only have to take the next step of faith.

So much of life is unknown. There’s never a scenario where you will have all the facts or know everybody’s motives or be able to predict every possible outcome. There will always be an element of unknown.

You can be smart. You can plan wisely. You can seek godly counsel. But above all, you must trust God and take that first step. Then you will know enough to take the next step. And then the next. And so on until you get to the place God is taking you. Then the next journey begins.

It all starts with trusting the unknown future to a known God. Although, there is still so much about God that we don’t know. We only know about God what God has revealed to us. We only know what our finite minds can handle. And maybe heaven will be learning all there is to know about God, one lesson at a time, throughout eternity because God is infinite. Then our minds will be able to take it all in.

But for now, it’s still trust and obey. Take the next step. Trust and obey.

Peter, Peter, Peter

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Tonight was the last Wednesday night Bible study at the church for a bit. At least until August. But it was a good one. We had Matt Pearson from the West Franklin campus leading us through the last of Praying through the Psalms, looking at Psalm 118 through the lens of the events leading up to Good Friday.

Specifically, he talked about how so many missed the meaning behind Psalm 118 as they most likely sang it on the night Jesus was betrayed and arrested. It was one of the Hallel Psalms that faithful Jews sang during the week leading up to Passover. Yet they were thinking military takeover and completely missed the point of the stone rejected becoming the cornerstone.

I’d never thought about why Peter denied Jesus. Actually, I never really thought about his motives at all. It was just something he did in the moment when abruptly confronted by people who had seen him with Jesus. But maybe Peter had reasons?

According to what I learned tonight, perhaps Peter had been disappointed in the reality of the Messiah versus his own expectations. When the anticipated overthrow of Rome didn’t begin, he decided he was done being a disciple. Hence the denial.

In a way, Peter was rejecting the stone that became the cornerstone. Ironically, Peter’s name means rock, yet he was anything but during those crucial moments after the arrest of Jesus. The only difference between Peter and Judas was that Judas showed only remorse while Peter displayed true repentance.

And it could have been me. In fact, it has been me or any number of us. How many times have we been anonymous rather than bold with our faith? How many times has it been easier to fade into the background or go with the flow rather than stand up for what we believe?

I love that later Jesus brings Peter back to that moment in the most loving way possible. For every time Peter denied Jesus, Jesus asks “Do you love me?” giving Peter a chance to affirm his faith. All in front of the same kind of coal fire where Peter had first denied Christ. I’d never thought about all those similarities before.

The same Peter who was always putting his foot in his mouth and later denying Christ became one of the most outspoken leaders of the faith. All because Jesus didn’t quit on him when He very well could have. Remember that the next time you fail. God’s love is still for you. The goal is not condemnation but restoration.

Something Better

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I think this is true. I also think that sometimes my idea and God’s idea of what “something better” means aren’t always the same. But every single time I find out that God’s idea was better.

Typically, I find looking back that what I thought I wanted wasn’t really what I wanted. You know what they say about being able to see 20/20 in hindsight. But I am grateful that God said no to a lot of what I prayed for, especially when I was younger.

Also, my idea of “something better” changes as I mature and grow more like Jesus. More and more, I am able to say with truth and sincerity God’s will be done. And I have noticed that the older I get, the more my will is slowly starting to look like God’s will. I am gradually beginning to want what God wants more than what I want.

Finally, I think sometimes I don’t think big enough. None of us do. God has an entire cosmos in mind and we so often have a very small spot in the universe. God is infinite and we are not. Yet I also think that what God has in mind for me down the road is not something I could presently comprehend. The waiting is God preparing me to be able to receive what’s coming. Right now, it would blow my mind. Or destroy me. Or both.

My ultimate hope isn’t some down the road amazing revelation or gift from God. It’s God. It’s less of me and more of God. It’s me stepping into all that God has made me to be and finding out He’s much bigger, better, stronger, kinder than I had ever imagined before.

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard
and no one’s heart has imagined
all the things that God has prepared
for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9, Complete Jewish Bible)

Face Like Flint

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“The heart of salvation is the Cross of Christ. The reason salvation is so easy to obtain is that it cost God so much. The Cross is the place where God and sinful man merged with a tremendous collision and where the way to life was opened. But all the cost and pain of the collision was absorbed by the heart of God” (Oswald Chambers).

I was blessed to be able to watch episodes 1 and 2 of The Chosen Season 5 in theaters. So far, it’s set during the Lord’s Supper with flashbacks to events earlier in the last week of Jesus’ ministry and life. I was able to more fully appreciate the totality of the weight that was on Jesus during these last days. In fact, you might even say that the weight of the world was on His shoulders.

He saw lost and hurting people. He saw misguided and corrupt religious leaders not only not helping people find salvation, but at times actively hindering people from doing so. He saw a temple that had become a market where money mattered over worship and where the house of prayer had become a den of thieves.

Jonathan Roumie portrayed all the inner turmoil that Jesus went through. Sometimes in movies about the Christ, I feel like the divine part gets played up at the expense of the humanity, and Jesus can come across as divinely disinterested and maybe a little bored. But this series has brought Jesus down to earth by emphasizing His humanness but not at the expense of his divine nature.

I remembered as I witness the emotions of Jesus during these first two episodes that Jesus was not called the Man of Sorrows for no reason. It wasn’t a catchy title. Jesus’ heart really did break over the lostness of the world He encountered — first, metaphorically during three years of ministry then literally on the cross when the spear pierced His side.

I can’t wait for the next episodes. And also, I’m dreading these next few scenes a bit. I know where this is heading. It’s not the rom-com portion of the program. In the next few days, we have betrayal, arrest, false trial, execution and death. All leading up to Good Friday. All leading up to Easter Sunday. But the good news is that as the old sermon said, it may be Friday, but Sunday’s comin’.

More than ever, I really can’t wait for that Sunday to get here.